Crimson Rose
by DrKazakhstan
Summary: Ruby Rose is such a sweet and innocent girl, yet badass in many ways. But even pure cuteness has pent up evil that is (literally) trying to get out. An alternate version of Ruby presents itself while Ruby learns to live without evil in her mind anymore.
1. It Started With A Voice

**1\. It Started With a Voice**

Ruby woke up that morning the exact same way she had done for months, ever since arriving to Beacon. There may have been a few subtle differences or out-of-place oddities, but for the most part it was the same. Ruby opened her eyes ever so slightly, noticing Yang and Blake on the opposite side of the room still asleep. Her eyes were still blurred from her recent sleep, but she could notice that it was still dark outside.

 _'Why am I awake...it's not even morning yet.'_ Ruby said at barely a whisper to herself. Without a second thought, she instantly dozed back into a comfy slumber to enjoy these last few moments before the day really began. It wasn't much longer (in Ruby's mind at least) until she was abruptly brought to her senses by Weiss. The heiress shook Ruby awake rather violently, complaining about the younger girl always trying to sleep in too much these days. Perhaps that was the reason Ruby liked the girl.

"Oh my gosh, wake up! You idiotic dunce...stop over-sleeping!" Ruby instantly opened her silver eyes to the world upon enduring Weiss. They didn't even have classes today, which confused Ruby as to why her teammate was so concerned with waking her up. Once the little reaper was awake, Weiss had no reason to stick around, instantly turning back around and walking off to do 'Weiss things'.

Ruby stretched a few times, even venturing so far as to take off her sweaty top in the empty room. Usually it didn't matter if she was alone or not, they all changed in front of each other anyway. She climbed out of her bed that hung in place above Weiss'. She walked over to where her pile of day clothes laid and slowly collected them. Before she had the chance to finish changing out of her pajamas, something clicked inside of her head. She didn't fully understand it, but a thought arose out of nowhere that she had no control over.

 _'Weiss is such a bitch for waking me up like she did. I didn't deserve that one bit.'_ It was enough to make Ruby freeze where she was. She tried to speak out to the empty air.

"What?" Her voice became high-pitched and squealy out of fear and confusion. She didn't know where this was coming from. Of course Weiss acted entitled and annoyed all the time, but Ruby still liked Weiss despite that. She didn't agree with her thoughts one bit. But before she could think about it anymore, Yang suddenly walked into the room completely disregarding the fact that someone may be inside already. The blonde's eyes immediately fixed themselves onto Ruby's still exposed breasts. Ruby noticed exactly where her sister's purple eyes were looking, blushing deeply.

"Y-Yang! Stop staring at me!" Ruby yelled, blushing more. She immediately flew her arms in front of herself to cover her chest. Yang simply continued to stare, smiling widely.

"Aww...my little sis is starting to become like me!" Yang became giggly at the hint she just made about her own large breasts. Ruby was becoming a young lady faster than Yang thought. After the fit was over, Yang walked over to her bed and picked up Ember Celica. She had somehow forgotten them while in a hurry to get out of the room. She took one last look over at Ruby before dashing back out the door.

Ruby looked down at the pile of clothes in her hands and remembered that she was still half naked. Without wasting any time, Ruby quickly dressed herself into her day clothing, thinking about what she was going to do today. Something didn't feel right though. It was as if all she could think of was negative thoughts.

 _'Spend the day by yourself Ruby! Your teammates aren't worth your time. Weiss woke you up abruptly and the others aren't even around!'_ Ruby had no control over her thoughts. She wanted to think of something by herself, but something, or someone, was inside of her head. She suddenly felt very faint, falling to the floor where she previously stood. A voice bounced around in her head without her consent and all she could do was listen to it. The cold words she felt in her head towards her friends and sister were too harsh to be hers.

 _'Blake the animal, Pyrrha the loner, Jaune the cheat, Nora the psychopath, Ren the quiet one. They aren't really your friends are they? Ruby...you're better than them, and they just cast you away because they think you're younger and less experienced. As if you're below them.'_ Ruby raised her hands to her ears to try and block out the augmented reiteration of her own voice. Her head was pounding and her blood was boiling. Just when she was about to say something, to counter this forced cruelty...

It was gone. The voice ceased, her head felt fine, and she was more awake than ever. Fear and anger was replaced with confusion, and pain was non-existent. Ruby stood up and exercised her mind to make sure it was her in control.

 _'Okay...um...Be my friend, Weiss. We're suppose to be a team, Weiss. You're super cute, Weiss. Well, it looks like that voice thingy is gone.'_ Ruby stood a little more confidently now that she knew it was her thinking her own thoughts. She walked over to where her Crescent Rose lay, picking it up gently.

"I'm going to use you today." Ruby spoke out loud to the empty silence. No one answered as expected. She sheathed the scythe into its usual spot on her lower back and headed out of the dorm room. Her destination was the Emerald Forest for some alone time with her precious sweetheart. She felt the need to kill that morning, and it would also provide a good chance to think about the reason behind her mind being hijacked. She walked the long corridors alone, emptying her head at present.

 _'Surprise, bitch!'_ Without warning, the anomaly returned. Ruby didn't have two seconds to prepare herself before she felt an outside force intercept her aura, activating her semblance. A mild yelp was all she could manage before slamming into the wall in a flurry of rose petals, nearly knocking her out cold. Her body ached incredibly, making her wish that she was unconscious right now.

 _'Goodnight Ruby Rose...You'll need the rest.'_ Were the final words she heard in her mind before her vision blurred and finally blacked out entirely.

* * *

Ruby hadn't fully awoken yet. She couldn't move or open her eye, only think. What she was thinking right now was unusual though. It was almost like she was entirely inside of her mind. Not physically, but when she opened her eyes all she saw was a wall of crimson, with various images and moving fragments of her memories. She focused her attention on the memory replaying the night she met Torchwick and Glynda, smiling with fondness of the excitement the night brought.

Without warning, the crimson and memories faded and were replaced with a darker shade of maroon. In the center of it all was a white symbol she had never seen before, splattered with blood-red coloring. The symbol looked like an 'R' with a knife piercing the top curve. Ruby's attention was brought off of the symbol when she heard the voice from earlier ring out loud.

"If the circumstances were different, I would be sorry about earlier when I knocked you out. But the situation doesn't physically allow me to feel such sympathy. Don't feel too bad Ruby, after all, I am part of you." As the cold words ended, a dark figure formed in front of Ruby, taking on a familiar shape. The entity that now faced Ruby was...Ruby. But the new version was different, noticing a change of color in her eyes, hair, and clothing.

She had crimson colored eyes that seem to ignite her whole face in an evil bright red. Her hair's color scheme was inverted to Ruby's, being mostly red with black tips and streaks throughout. Her clothing consisted of a maroon colored corset that looked soaked in blood and a black combat skirt that had minor changes from Ruby's originally worn one. Ruby felt her voice returned to her weakly upon seeing this crooked reflection.

"Wh-what are y-you?" Ruby asked in a high-pitched tone, receiving a wicked stare from the formation

"It should be obvious, but your mind isn't very developed yet. Allow me to justify my reason for existing. Imagine a conglomeration of negative emotions. Anything on the block that Grimm are attracted to. That's how I was made, or rather born. You have two sides to you, Ruby: the cute, innocent side that everyone loves and the dark, venomous side that is in every way evil. I am the evil that lurks inside you." The second Ruby finished her statement, turning away to walk off.

All that was left was darkness and Ruby couldn't even think straight. She didn't even know when she would wake up. All she could think of was the white symbol with the knife in the top of it.

* * *

Ruby woke up an undetermined amount of time later in a medical bed in a pristine white room. It was plain except for a few machines near the bed that appeared to be turned off. Her head pounded but at least she no longer heard the voice of that evil copy of herself. The bed was pushed near a corner that had a giant window set in the stone. Ruby noted that the room she was in, based on looking out the window, was at least five or more stories high. No one was present in the room except her, but coming from somewhere was the sweet fragrance of roses.

She turned her head towards the door to see the thick wood slab cracked open a small bit. Ruby assumed the aroma was coming from outside of the room. She blinked a few times and sat up in the bed. She really loved the smell of roses, taking in deep relaxing breaths. A few moments passed and Ruby completely forgot where she was or why. The door opened a bit wider and both Yang and Weiss rushed into the room.

"Ruby! I'm so glad to see you're okay...when we found you, you were unconscious in the hallway and we didn't know what happened. Do you remember anything?" Yang immediately asked Ruby, receiving a confused look from the younger girl. Ruby couldn't think straight at the moment, just staring at her sister as if she was still processing her words.

"I...I don't know what happened. My semblance acted on its own and I just ran into a wall." Ruby tried to explain, battling against the impending headache. Immediately after saying what she had, another thought popped into her head that she couldn't suppress. It pushed itself to the forefront of her mind. The younger girl blinked a few times, her eyes changing colors from silver to bright red.

"The roses are dying. I-I can't save them. Yang, help me! They're dying!" Ruby didn't even know why she was saying what she was, but tears started forming in her eyes and she could no longer see Yang or Weiss clearly anymore.

"Ruby, what's wrong? What roses are dying?" Yang tried to help.

"The rose petals are falling...losing life...a-and when I try to help I make it worse and...Yang please help! The roses are dying!" Ruby was completely losing it over these roses. Weiss stood behind Yang, holding something in her hands out of Ruby's sight. Weiss was planning to give it to her to help her feel better, but now wasn't the time.

Weiss twirled between her fingers a white rose flower. She knew that they were Ruby's favorite flower because it reminded her of Summer.

"Ruby, calm down! I'm here and there's no dying roses! You're the only Rose here, and you're perfectly fine, see?" Yang was doing her best to comfort the young girl, but Ruby was insistent on continuing her rant about dying roses.

"Y-Yang...she knows...and she's going to kill us..."

"Who's gonna kill you? No one here-"

"I don't know yet. But she will kill us...for killing the roses...please listen to me, the roses are dying..." Ruby muttered, starting to squirm around on the bed. Before Yang could react or stop her sister, Ruby bolted out of the bed and used her semblance to dash out of the room. In the chaos, the flower fell from Weiss' fingers and gently floated to the floor. Miraculously, the rose hadn't lost a single petal. Weiss bent down and picked up the flower from amongst the scattered red rose petals. Yang ran after Ruby, calling out to her the whole time.

Ruby just ran until her vision blurred and she collapsed, rolling a few more feet to compensate for the speed. But as Ruby collapsed and fell unconscious, another figure continued running when Ruby had fallen. A different version of Ruby. A more crimson-colored version. Yang soon reached Ruby and helped the girl to her feet, slightly waking up a little and whispering softly.

"When I fell...she kept running..." Ruby pulled Yang towards where the other Ruby had split off towards. Yang didn't bother fighting Ruby as she pulled towards the elevator, then towards the front entrance of the hospital once they reached the bottom. Ruby was still weak, but had a surprisingly strong grasp on Yang. The two girls ended up just outside the front doors of the hospital to see another girl standing twenty feet in front of them with her back turned. She looked almost identical to Ruby, except she had a prominent black cape that waved in the gentle breeze.

"Who are you and why are you scaring my sister so much!?" Yang shouted at the dark figure. The other girl turned her head to face Yang, giving her an evil grin.

"I'm Ruby's...other side. But you can call me...Crimson."


	2. Shades of Red

**2\. Shades of Red**

The three girls stood in absolute silence for the longest time after Crimson had spoken. Neither Yang nor Ruby could make sense of the situation. In front of them stood an evil form of Ruby, but with subtle and not-so-small changes. Her hair and clothing were mostly the same except blacker in most places. Around her waist, she had the same six bullets on one side but instead of a metal rose on the other was a white R with a dagger running through the curve. Her weapon no longer had bits of black but was entirely shaded crimson and maroon, perfectly fitting the name she gave herself. Crimson moved a hand to the base of her weapon.

Yang sprung forward away from Ruby, instantly readying her ember celica for attack. With a single fluid sweeping motion, Crimson withdrew her scythe weapon that looked identical to Ruby's, scattering black rose petals with the swipe of her cloak. She took up a combat-ready stance facing Yang and waited for the blonde girl to get close enough. Yang was blind to see Crimson's superior fighting style, rushing in without a second of thought. Crimson pulling the trigger and fired off a shot that nearly took Yang out if she hadn't raised her gauntlets in time to block it. Crimson took this opportunity to pull the scythe blade up and around towards her older sister. Yang ducked just in time and fired a shell from one of her gauntlets into Crimson's left boot.

Crimson yelped and pulled her weapon back into its dormant forme. She jumped backward as best she could and unfolded her weapon once more into just its sniper function. She fired a few more bullets quickly before turning her back to Yang. The fiery-tempered girl rushed towards Crimson, but was pushed back by sniper bullets and a wave of black petals once her assailant activated her semblance. Within moments, Crimson was gone from sight, only leaving a thin trail to follow.

"Y-Yang...We need to go after her." Ruby stuttered, still feeling slightly weak. At least she could stand on her own.

"Ruby, as much as I would like to say yes, you're in no condition to fight. Or chase a crazed psycho version of yourself." Yang returned to Ruby's side and pulled her younger sister in for a tight hug. Ruby still managed to squirm a little despite the way Yang was holding her.

"She's part of me, Yang! I can't just let her run away...what if she does something and I get blamed for it?" Ruby convinced Yang that Crimson couldn't be left to roam the world. She had to be brought down at all costs. Yang hesitated, knowing that if Ruby tried to chase Crimson it would only end badly for herself. Yang patted Ruby's head and told her to stay here until she got back. It was up to big sister Yang now. As soon as the embrace subsided, however, Ruby took off running. She was still sore from everything that had happened, but she kept a stable pace.

The black petals grew less and less until the only thing Ruby had to follow was an occasional boot print in the dirt. The faint path led into the city of Vale, through the streets and towards innocent people. Ruby bit her lip and feared for the worst. She sped off through the streets in search of the evil entity. She cautiously flipped out Crescent Rose into only its sniper forme. Worried thoughts were going through her head at the damage that could be caused in her name. She turned around a corner and instantly noticed her objective. Crimson was standing with her back to Ruby and no weapon drawn.

Without thinking, Ruby rushed forward and shot a few times at where Crimson was standing. Crimson barely dodged the shots in time, falling to the ground the moment she moved. She quickly adapted to the situation and launched herself up and landing gracefully on her feet. Ruby stopped and stared at Crimson, while Crimson stared back. Civilians started to distance themselves from the pair of reapers.

"Why are you doing this?" Ruby asked, watching Crimson carefully. The other girl had yet to pull her weapon out, but that didn't stop her from positioning herself in defensive stance.

"I wanted my freedom. I grew tired of living within you. So I made a persona for myself and found a way to escape. Upon leaving, I copied some of your knowledge of fighting for myself as a precaution." Crimson slowly explained. As she spoke, Ruby herself felt something changed ever since the events at the hospital, as if a part of her memory was stolen from her. It upset Ruby a lot more than she thought it would.

Ruby dashed forward without the help of her semblance, taking advantage of Crimson's lack of weapon to strike. Ruby transformed her weapon into its scythe function on the move. A few moments before Ruby reached Crimson, the evil reaper, sidestepped the attack and stuck a leg out to trip her assailant. Ruby hit the ground at a terrible speed, tumbling forward a few feet before coming to a stop. Crimson saw this as an opportunity to equip her own scythe while Ruby weakly started to stand up.

"C-Crimson...you can't just do whatever you want, that's not how it works!" Ruby started to go through a list of tactics in her head and found a particularly useful one for the situation. Crimson had to be kept alive, but contained.

"I do whatever I please." Crimson simply but wickedly answered. Ruby wasn't about to let something like that happen. She fired a sniper shot at Crimson's feet, launching the debris from the street at her ankles. Ruby knew it would sting Crimson's legs just long enough for Ruby to make a move. She wasted no time in reaching Crimson and slicing Crescent Rose at her chest. Crimson stumbled backwards, barely feeling anything and recovered quickly from the attack.

"You're not bad, but I'm always better..." Crimson muttered, moving her eyes from Ruby to a maroon shape on the ground. Ruby kicked Crimson's weapon away from the both of them. Crimson clenched both of her fists tightly as she realized what Ruby had planned.

"I've disarmed you. Now give up before I have to hurt you!" Ruby wanted more than anything for Crimson to just give in peacefully. She had to at least try.

"You stupid bitch, now I'M going to hurt YOU!" Crimson burst out in outrage. She ran towards Ruby and threw a fist at her face. Ruby ducked and countered by using the blunt part of Crescent Rose against the side of Crimson's leg. She seemed unfazed from the counter, immediately bringing a boot up and nailing Ruby in the stomach. She collapsed on top of her scythe, hugging it against her to make sure Crimson didn't touch it. She had just polished it, after all. Crimson wiped the corner of her mouth and straightened herself.

"I'm always better..." Crimson whispered before a small explosion erupted behind her. She looked towards the source of the noise to find a pissed off blonde holding a few bombs made of highly-combustible dust. Before Crimson could make a move to escape, Yang directed one of the dust bombs towards her fake sister, causing Crimson to immediately drop to the ground. She knew her limitations, and things weren't looking good for her if she kept up this fighting. Yang took strides towards the two girls, and every step meant one more step towards Crimson's imprisonment. She hated the idea of not being free.

As soon as Yang was in range, Crimson lashed out with her uninjured foot, catching her boot on Yang's ankle.

"You dumb...I should kill you for what you did to Ruby!" Yang spat at Crimson before grabbing the collar of her outfit and pulling her to her feet. She then proceeded to pull out a pair of handcuffs and clipped them on Crimson's wrists. Weiss appeared at the scene not much later and was instructed by Yang to help Ruby to her feet.

"You better explain what happened here, Ruby." Weiss began to scold. Ruby looked to the sky and was at a loss for words. The truth was, she had no idea what had just happened.

"Uh, Ruby? What are we going to do with your...twin?" Yang motioned towards the squirming duplicate of Ruby. Crimson couldn't believe how easily she had been caught. Ruby walked over to Yang. Crimson could only manage to look away from the other three girls, not wanting to admit her failure.

"When we return to the dorm room, you're going to do a lot of explaining." Ruby coldly stated, realizing that she was subconsciously turning into Weiss. She straightened herself and corrected what she wanted to say.

"I-I mean...you're going to tell us why you did all this." Ruby felt like she fixed her words. Crimson still refused to look at anyone. Yang stepped into Crimson's line of view and locked eyes. Crimson simply glared at Yang and said absolutely nothing. Yang moved a hand to Crimson's cheek and lightly touched it. It was as smooth as Ruby's, with epidermis akin to that of a young girl. Yang couldn't do anything to truly hurt Crimson because she was still a part of Ruby.

Yang left Crimson's side to retrieve her fallen scythe some ways away. It somehow looked unique and different, despite being a direct replica of Crescent Rose that she had seen several times before. She kept it on her to ensure that Crimson didn't try to use it to escape.

"What are we gonna call this? Because we obviously can't have a second Crescent Rose." Yang inquired. Crimson just shrugged and looked away again.

"I don't know...I-I guess Wilting Rose?" Crimson just thought of the name, but even she agreed that it suited the weapon perfectly. It drew out a grin to her face.

Alright. Now we had better be getting back to the school with you. Are you sure you're alright Ruby?" Yang turned to her real little sister with a big smile. Ruby nodded and the three members of Team RWBY escorted Crimson with them back to Beacon.

* * *

"Why are you here?" Ruby began questioning Crimson as soon as everyone was situated. All of Team RWBY plus Crimson were gathered in the small dorm room, waiting for answers. Yang had filled Blake in on everything they currently knew, which was mostly a bunch of "she just kinda"'s. A chair was pulled up specifically for Crimson to sit in. Once she was down, Weiss promptly placed glyphs around Crimson to ensure that she stayed. Blake and Weiss sat on their own beds while Ruby and Yang stood in front of their captive.

Crimson stared at her boots, noticing the tattered top part and the twisted bruise underneath. Her brain was swimming with thoughts, yet as clear as an oasis. She didn't have any intention of speaking, but she knew it would happen eventually. She wiggled impatiently against the strong bonds of the glyphs.

"I don't have to tell you anything..." Crimson muttered under her breath. She looked up slightly just enough to see Yang raise a fist and Ruby lightly grasping Yang's forearm in protest.

"Yang, wait. Give her a chance." Ruby calmly spoke, leaning down towards their captive copy. She gently placed her hand on Crimson's cheek, leaning even closer to whisper into her ear.

"Just tell us everything you know and we won't hurt you. I promise...friend." Ruby had specifically used the word friend as a direct appeal. She wanted to show Crimson that she was in a safe environment. Crimson still didn't feel like talking, but she was convinced that she was safe.

"Alright, I'll talk. I don't see why it's so important though. Okay...this all started a while ago, fuck if I remember exactly when. But I was scared and confused, but I was most of all lonely. I was born to carry the burden of Ruby's negative emotions. And don't lie to yourselves, everyone has someone like me in their heads. If you didn't have beings like me, Grimm would be all over you in a moment's notice. I fed on Ruby's excess aura and began to learn about her, the people around her, and her surroundings. I was becoming what others of my kind couldn't. I was becoming self-aware." Crimson rambled on without pausing, cautiously watching the other four girls with an odd perfunctory look on her face.

"It got to the point where I couldn't take the boredom and responsibility anymore. I was forced to carry the pain of someone else, but I was specifically designed for being a slave of the mind. I snapped and made an exit as soon as I could, creating my own appearance based on the one I was locked inside of. So here I am, captured once again." Crimson's story was believable, but erratic. Each girl stared at Crimson in amazement.

Before any of the girls could make a move or say anything, Ozpin's voice crackled over the announcement system with urgency.

"This is a vital warning to any teams currently in the dorm building. Several intruders have infiltrated the school and you may potentially be at risk. Stay in your rooms." As soon as his voice faded, Yang looked at Ruby, then at Crimson.

"I can help with this. Let me come with you." Crimson weakly pleaded. Ruby signaled for Weiss to drop her glyphs and let Crimson up. As soon as the dark reaper stood up, she stretched a few times from the sudden freedom, reaching for where her weapon was. Before she could pick it up, she felt Ruby grabbing her arm.

"I still don't think it's a good idea for you to be wandering around with us yet. And I don't know how I should feel about you yet." Ruby's voice was mild as she picked up a coil of rope from under the chair and bound Crimson to the chair. At least it was more comfortable than the tight glyphs Weiss had.

"Does everyone understand what we are doing here? Find the intruders and take them out." Ruby instructed. She desperately wanted to add a part about watching Crimson but figured it to be too awkward. Everyone else nodded and without saying anything else, Ruby led her team out into the long empty halls against direct orders.


	3. Mind Games

3\. Mind Games

This was how Crimson was going to escape. Team RWBY had already caught her once, but she couldn't let that happen again. She knew that she was better than them, even if all four of them fought her at once. She had to find a way to slip away unnoticed. She looked forward to see Ruby standing in a protective stance, ready to lead her team into battle. The girl was so situated and poised, unlike how she usually was. Maybe if Crimson hadn't once been a part of her, she would have seemed more intimidating. Her Crescent Rose was held at such an angle that it looked much larger than it actually was. Crimson thought of her own Wilting Rose, thinking of how she could escape. With the four girls gone, it would give her a perfect opportunity.

"Enough standing around, it's time to head out. Ruby, make sure someone is watching Crimson." Weiss stated flatly, not breaking her ice queen reputation. In her mind, she was still a leader of sorts and had to keep Ruby in line when she acted childish. That seemed to be often. Crimson was silently hoping against it.

"No, it's fine. I made sure that rope would hold her. We need everyone out there looking for these guys. Weiss rolled her eyes and just went with it.

Without any further discussion, the team headed out into the halls.

It was rather quiet as it usually was, but that just meant that the intruders hadn't met with any of the students yet. The four young huntresses knew the layout of the dorm building perfectly so navigation wasn't an issue. The split up having Ruby and Blake move to the upper floors while Weiss and Yang explored below. They figured that they could handle themselves anyway with the amount of training the girls had.

The team went their separate ways and continued searching the halls. The Freezerburn duo only passed a single team on their search and it was a team they didn't have much knowledge about. The only thing they knew was that the leader's name was Indigo. The lack of conversation created a question. Was Ozpin being serious about the intrusion? Weiss pondered constantly about it as each floor yielded nothing. After Weiss and Yang had explored floors five, four, and three, the heiress spoke up.

"What are we even looking for anyway?" She almost yelled it out of frustration. She didn't like to be kept in the dark about things.

"Intruders of some kind. I don't know why you expect me to know everything." Yang muttered in a bored tone of voice. She wasn't exactly happy to be out here either.

"I'm missing out on some well-deserved beauty sleep..." Weiss continued. If there was any hope of inciting conversation, she was determined to do so.

"Wouldn't you think we're all missing out on our sleep? Anyway, if we hadn't been called out to search for these guys, there's still Crimson." Yang spoke logically, forcing Weiss to reconsider her options. While it was true that Crimson is still just taking up space and was more of a nuisance than Ruby could ever be, Weiss still couldn't help but think about sleep. She had no idea how they were going to deal with the Ruby clone just yet. She shook her head and tried to think of something else.

"Yang? Can I talk to you about something real quick? It's...weird and personal...so try to give me straight answers. And none of that subject avoiding either!" Weiss felt it

was necessary to talk to Yang about Ruby anyway. Yang has been by Ruby's side for fifteen years, protecting and teaching her the whole way. She was the only person Weiss could talk to about her feelings for the little red reaper. Yang stopped walking and pulled Weiss over to the wall so that they could talk more efficiently.

"Look...I don't see any other way of putting this but I thought I was straight until I met Ruby." Weiss could feel herself blushing and her cheeks starting to become hot. She was almost embarrassed to say it out loud. It only brought a warm smile to Yang's face.

"I could have sworn you were into Neptune!" This only made Weiss blush deeper, causing her anger to spill out.

"What? I don't even like him! He lacks the elegance of a dancer and has no manners at all when speaking to girls. He does not deserve this body." She had truly set all feelings aside for him after the night of the dance. He only proved to be a massive fuck up at, well, everything. (Sorry Kerry XD)

"Well then what do you want to talk to me about? Are you having cravings for my sister's Rubooty?" It made Yang giggle, but Weiss was clearly getting more and more embarrassed.

"A-Actually...I wanted you to tell me about her. You are her sister after all. You ought to know SOMETHING about the girl, right?" Weiss questioned, determined to learn something. Yang shrugged and racked her mind of things to say.

"Hmm...It's a bit obvious but she was an unusual passion for weapons. Her favorite foods are cookies and strawberries...and you can add the milk to those cookies later." Yang's jokes were making it difficult to have a normal conversation with the girl. Weiss rolled her eyes and pressed on.

"Alright, I guess. Um, do you happen to know if she's had her...first kiss?" Weiss nearly whispered the last part because her voice abandoned her. Yang kept giggling, but now it was only because Weiss' face was a hilarious shade of red.

"As far as I know she hasn't yet. But I've never seen her 'in love' before. So...not much I can help you with there." Yang finished, remembering specific points in her childhood where her little sister denied falling in love. It wasn't like they got out much and talked to other people considering that they lived on an island. Ruby never showed any interest in anything else other than weaponry and studying to become a huntress.

"I see...thanks anyway Yang. So now what will we do?" Bored and tired of searching and becoming increasingly hungry crept up on the heiress, leading her to want to return to their room. Yang never got a chance to answer the question hanging in the air as the duo spotted two masked figures turning the corner up ahead. They moved stealthily and it was easy to tell that they were the intruders. Their masks didn't look like the usual type that Whitefang members adorned. It was pitch black and had spiked horns on either side. The mask wrapped around their faces to the back of their heads. Aside from that, the intruders wore dark shaded clothing and each had a silver katana at their sides.

Both Weiss and Yang faced the intruders without anywhere to hide. Each girl readied her own weapon, fully prepared to fight. The intruders, however, were not alone. From around the corner, six dark masked figures rose in total, each with a silver katana at the ready. Weiss nodded at Yang and mouthed the word 'Freezerburn' as she loaded a dust capsule into the hilt of her rapier. Yang thought that the team-names for each attack pair in her team were cute.

Each of the masked ninjas ran forward with speed almost equal to that of Ruby, drawing their swords on the fly. Yang and Weiss both stood their ground as their attackers were almost upon them. In the small time frame that she had, Weiss summoned a glyph on the carpet of the hall, illuminating the area in front of the two girls in a light blue glow. Three of the intruders saw this before it was too late, banking onto the wall and beginning to wall-run over the glyph. Those unfortunate enough to run into the glyph found themselves unable to move with their legs stuck in a wall of ice.

In preparation for the oncoming assailants, Yang held both Ember Celica in an offensive position at her sides. As soon as the closest enemy was in front of her, she thrust her fist forward and nailed him hard in his gut. The poor man flew halfway across the room before landing with a loud audible thump. A second intruder swung his blade at Yang, giving her barely enough time to duck. In retaliation, Yang gave the enemy a prompt kick to the shin and punched him against the wall.

The sixth masked ninja leaped straight for Weiss, ruthlessly bringing his weapon down on her. She raised her rapier in defense, but once contact between the two metals were established, Weiss was left sprawled on the ground. Combining elegance with tactic, she wasted no time in jumping back up to face her assailant. But instead of attacking her he simply stood there, holding a small red device in his hand. He spoke a few hushed words into it before quickly putting it away and facing Weiss once more.

"Our battle ends for today, but our paths will cross again. This, I am sure of." He returned his blade to his side and bowed in suggestive apology for ending the fight so soon. Then before Weiss or Yang could move, he pulled out a small black orb and smashed it into the ground. The classic smoke bomb escape maneuver was their plan. Thick clouds of dark smoke emanated from the tiny bulb, blocking the young Huntress' sight. Once the smog cleared, all that remained was a wall of ice where the three ninjas once were and a few wrinkles in the carpet from the scuffle. Yang looked at Weiss and shrugged.

"Well that was unexpected..." She put a hand on the heiress' back and patted a few times. It was an awkward notion, but Weiss simply accepted it. Yang's comfort felt necessary somehow, as if they had lost. All she wanted at the moment was a creamy dessert, warm bath, and a bed to sleep in.

* * *

While the Freezerburn duo had proceeded the lower floors, the Ladybug pair were off to explore the upper levels. They couldn't stop thinking about this new Crimson figure. It wasn't too terribly difficult to tell the two Ruby girls apart. Blake scoured the halls for any signs of enemy movement. Her Faunus senses were likely to pick up something a lot more quickly than Ruby.

Ruby on the other hand, carefully looked around the area as they moved from floor to floor. She was beginning to worry that they wouldn't find anything or anyone. The girls were both so calm as if the situation didn't concern them one bit. Ruby's patience was quickly beginning to diminish.

"Blake? I don't think we're going to find anything..." Ruby quietly started to say.

"Ruby, hush." Blake thought she heard something from down the hall of the eighth floor, the floor that they were currently walking through. Ruby stared in the direction that Blake was looking. The quiet girl started moving forward silently, raising Gambol Shroud in its gun-forme. Ruby stood beside Blake and whispered 'Ladybug'. Blake nodded and proceeded cautiously towards where the faint sounds were coming from.

From around the corner, seven figures emerged, each with a long thin metal blade withdrawn. They donned black Nevermore masks with long horns on either side. When the intruders had arrived, they split up into two groups and searched the dorm building from top to bottom. To the team's luck, they found both of the groups easily.

The enemies didn't look like Whitefang, but at the same time they looked like renditions of the group. Blake didn't like them. She fired Gambol Shroud until it ran out of ammunition. The ninjas were exceptionally fast and most survived the hail of bullets without injury. She took up a position next to Ruby and assaulted two more of the ninjas with her blade.

As soon as the fighting started, Ruby felt something happening to her. She couldn't move, as if a force was keeping her from helping her teammates. She desperately wanted to fend off these assailants, but the piece of her mind that held the motivation for fighting was missing.

Crimson!

Crimson was the reason for that. She was the part of Ruby's mind that loved to fight, that wanted to kill. The last ninja that made it past Blake started taking off towards Ruby, seeing a chance to strike. Blake didn't see the enemy slip past and go for her defenseless friend.

Blake was completely occupied, but at the last second saw a small gleam of metal slip past he rout of the corner of her eye.

Blake kicked her current attacker in the shins to cripple him temporarily. Once he was down and out of the way, she spun herself around towards Ruby and dashed as fast as she could. In the small moment before the ninja brought his katana down on Ruby, Blake's small blade was on the spot and blocked the attack perfectly. Ruby looked up at her savior in confusion.

"Move!" The faunus replied forcefully, pushing the ninja backwards with sheer force, knocking him to the ground.

"That's it, these kids are too annoying! Tactical escape!" The fallen assailant yelled to his accomplices.

"Cowards..." Blake muttered as her own battle with three of them ceased.

"It's not cowardice if you put 'tactical' in the name!" One of others retaliated. Once everything was said and done, thick smoke erupted from hidden bulbs on the floor. Blake nor Ruby had an opportunity to do anything else before the ninjas were gone from sight. Ruby fell to her knees and felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"Thank you Blake..." She tried her best to say cleanly through teary eyes. Blake walked over and helped Ruby to her feet.

"Come on, let's go back to the room." There wasn't much that any of them do for now except return to their room and think about what to do next. Ruby agreed with the plan, feeling that her uses as a huntress were coming to an unsightly end.


	4. Sins of our Own

4\. The Sins of Our Own

Very little time had passed since both of Team RWBY's encounters with the unknown enemy. Blake had helped Ruby to her room after the initial shock. By the time the pair had returned, Yang was already sitting on her bed and the faint hum of the bath water running in the bathroom. The Freezerburn duo had gotten back just minutes before the rest of the team.

"So how did you guys do? Find anything?" Yang asked once her team was settled in for the night. Crimson struggled against the rope holding her back without any success.

"There were a few guys but we held them back." Blake was the first to answer, not wanting to concern her partner about Ruby's condition just yet. Yang just shrugged it off and laid back in her bed.

"We did too, but the weird thing was how they looked. I'm assuming you know already if they were the same group of bad guys." Blake nodded subconsciously and began making preparations for sleeping.

The water from the bathroom ceased to run, plunging the room into a small moment of silence. Ruby, being the closest to the bathroom door, heard the sloshing of water as Weiss dipped herself into the bathtub. Even though the door was closed, Ruby still knew what was going on. A thought tried to form itself in her head of Weiss without clothes, but she just sighed as the absence of Crimson in her mind was felt again. Crimson was the embodiment of her sins.

Ruby climbed into her bed and started changing into her pajama clothes. Yang had already fallen asleep and Blake was just about ready to put the book she was reading away. Ruby smiled quickly, thinking about how she was still alive and that she had such wonderful friends to protect her.

"Hey Ruby! If I'm going to be sleeping like this all night, the least you girls could do is toss me a blanket..." Crimson complained monotonously, making a stupid pouty face. Blake completely ignored Crimson, pulling the covers up over her body and turning to face away from everyone else. Discouraged, Crimson grumbled about how useless everyone was and threw her head back, unable to move. Ruby gave in and climbed down from her bed. She wasn't happy about cutting Crimson free but it was the only way she would shut up. Ruby loosened the ropes and soon after, roughly grabbed Crimson's shoulder.

"We're locking the door and window. And if you leave this room while we're sleeping, I'll hunt you down myself." Ruby made herself as threatening as she possibly could. It was hard to look aggressive because she was, well, cute as fuck. Crimson nodded and Ruby quickly climbed back into bed. Blake drifted away into sleep soon after.

"Where am I gonna sleep? You don't exactly have a guest bed or anything like that." Crimson looked around to hopefully catch sight of spare blankets or something.

"There's a closet near the bathroom. Look around in there." Ruby softly motioned. Crimson started off toward the closet, walking inside and closing the door behind her.

Ruby lay awake in her bed, thinking about the events of the day. Tomorrow, they would figure out how to return her to normal. She couldn't bare not being able to live out her dreams as a huntress. It was times like this that she wished she had a mother to talk to.

Ruby was hardly paying attention as the bathroom door slowly opened and Weiss walked out in nothing but a towel. She glanced over at Blake and Yang's side of the room and noticed them sleeping, adopting the thought that she was alone. Ruby hid herself under her sheets while peeking out. Her face was blushing bright red and she thought it was completely embarrassing.

Weiss dropped her towel while facing her bed, still unaware that Ruby was soaking up the whole front view of the heiress's body. Her smooth white complexion accompanied by her cute yet nearly flat chest area made Ruby blush deeper. Pink nipples stood out and attracted Ruby's attention further. It prompted her to look lower, examining Weiss' perfectly situated body form. Ruby knew that Weiss was subconscious about her body, but it was so cute and amazing.

The naked heiress picked up a small pile of her clothes and held them against her chest, only pushing Ruby's gaze lower. Her eyes rested at Weiss' virgin entrance. It was so small and untouched that Ruby couldn't help but continue to stare until Weiss had covered it with her pajama clothes. At that point, Ruby slowly retreated to beneath her sheets to think about what she saw in peace. Was it being creepy? No, Weiss was clearly into Ruby. After the night of the dance, Weiss made it much more obvious to everyone that she was into girls. Ruby smiled and silently laid in her bed. Tomorrow she was going to say something about it.

Crimson came out of the closet (gay joke lul) just as Weiss climbed into her own bed. The evil clone had brought back a few pillows and a couple blankets, one thicker than the other. She set the thick blanket on the floor between the four beds and threw the pillows down on it on one side. Weiss watched the sloppy construction of the temporary bed carefully.

"What is your problem? Do you even know how to make a bed? You're just as useless as the red dunce you came from!" Weiss couldn't take the lack of perfection anymore and stood up quickly. She pushed Crimson aside and started making the bed for her.

"Woah...you're a feisty one." Crimson remarked as she watched Weiss put the sheets together and fluffed the pillows to an appropriate extent. Ruby poked her head out again to watch the fiasco, softly giggling.

"And I don't suppose you need anything else?" Weiss glared as she finished.

"No ma'am. That will be all for the night, M'lady." Crimson bowed with intense sarcasm, forcing Weiss to cross her arms and roll her eyes.

"You've been nothing but a hazard to my health..." Weiss muttered, turning around to slip back into bed. She laid facing away from the incessant brat she had been made to deal with. Crimson turned the lights off and only moments later, Weiss, Blake, and Yang were all fast asleep. Crimson simply flopped down on her bed area and laid awake. Ruby shifted herself to where she was in a comfortable sleeping position and tried to put herself out. But she couldn't seem to find a way.

Thirty minutes had passed and Ruby was still attempting to sleep with little success. Her mind was a whirlwind of motion, yet she couldn't focus on anything for long enough without losing attention and returning to the chaotic swirl. It was troubling for the little reaper, because she desperately wanted to fall asleep to take her mind off of everything that had been happening.

Ruby finally felt herself settling into a position where she felt she could sleep when a small pair of soft, cold hands descended upon her body. She opened her eyes slightly to see Crimson standing just beside her hanging bed. It surprised Ruby enough to wake her up entirely.

"Crimson! What are you doing awake?!" She whispered harshly. Crimson responded by silencing Ruby with a single finger to her own lips. Ruby didn't like the way that Crimson was smiling. The darker version of Ruby climbed into the bed and laid down beside the red girl.

"I can't sleep. I can't stop thinking about how I like this world. In your mind, I was little more than a part of your conscious. Unable to think for myself and unable to be free. I felt a desire to escape and be wild. You understand what I mean? Aggression can only go so far. Sooner or later, I knew that carrying the weight of your sins would force me to do something drastic." Crimson slowly explained. She only wanted to share this with her counterpart and no one else. Ruby nodded to acknowledge that she was paying attention.

"I used everything I had to gain a slight control over your mind before I escaped. I was entirely drained, but I saw my chance. I seized the opportunity and bolted straight out of your conscious and kept running. I had no intention of...stealing your sins and will to fight. But I see your desire is still there. The fire in your eyes burns brighter than ever. And if your desire is still inside of you then that means..." Crimson paused for a moment move her hands to Ruby's body again, "Your will to fight is still somewhere in you."

Ruby squirmed as Crimson's cold hands touched her velvety skin. Ruby was thoroughly confused. If she still had a will to fight, where was it when she was fighting those intruders?

"I modeled myself from your body because it was the easiest to picture and it's just so cute." Crimson continued telling Ruby, subconsciously feeling her original's body. It didn't matter much to her but Ruby was clearly unsettled. It was not a feeling she enjoyed.

"I-I think I understand...I just don't approve of you doing what you did. What am I going to do now?" Ruby tried ask a few questions but was silenced when Crimson brought a finger to Ruby's soft lips.

"Everything will work itself out. I'll go my own ways, you'll go yours. Easy as that."

"No, it's not that easy. You don't know a thing about this world!-" Ruby was once more cut off.

"What do you think I've been doing inside of your boring little head? I fed off your excessive aura, gaining a conscious. From there, I pried into other parts of your mind and I saw things. I learned, Ruby. And I'll continue to learn, not as a huntress but something more. You nor your friends can stop what's coming. But I'll give you a little something to remember," Crimson leaned forward and lowered her whispering to almost inaudible, "The roses are dying."

Crimson let go of Ruby and slid off the bed. She fell back to the floor and silently put herself back in her place under the sheets. She made herself comfortable and drifted to sleep. One thing that Crimson didn't know, however, was that once being part of someone else's subconscious didn't give her access to a free will. She thought that what she doing was her own actions. But she was wrong. Ruby didn't know what to think or feel. Everything she knew was beginning to fade. A new set of rules were forming themselves in her world, and at the center of it all, a wilting rose.


	5. Letting Go

**5\. Letting Go**

Ruby's first intention of being awake was to look at the floor. It was certainly the first time she had waken up the way she had, but she had to make sure...

No, Crimson was still asleep on the floor, tangled up in a mess of bed sheets from the previous night. At least she hadn't escaped. Ruby's head was a mess of emotions that she couldn't sort out, and it was causing her to be unable to think straight. What had she wanted exactly? She vaguely remembered the events of the day. Not that it had mattered, considering the damage was already done.

This was too much thinking for a fifteen year old girl. She cleared her head and looked around the room. Ruby was the only one awake. She was unsure of what to do, seeing as the circumstances weren't exactly 'normal'. She flopped back onto her bed, all the energy from before gone. Not that there was much she could do until everyone else woke up.

Ruby closed her eyes for a moment to picture what Yang could possibly be thinking of the situation. She thought it would be interesting at least, thinking about how it would be weird to see a double Yang.

While Ruby was laying in her bed, Weiss slowly rose up peacefully. She stretched a few times and silently glanced at Crimson. The annoyance was still here, much to her distaste for the new girl. Weiss was still stuck in a dream-like state, which was more centered around Crimson than she would have liked. She picked up a pillow without hesitation and threw it at the girl on the floor, waking her up.

"What...the...?" Crimson looked around the room and laid eyes on a slightly angered Weiss, "What was that for?"

"I don't particularly like you." She flatly stated. Crimson just shrugged and slowly stood. She didn't know what to do since the door and window were both locked, so she slowly strode over to her weapon. Weiss watched with fire in her eyes, picking herself up to get dressed.

Ruby watched from under sheets, still too timid to show herself. Weiss hated Crimson, but Ruby had no clue how that hate would multiply if Weiss knew what Crimson had said the previous night.

Weiss finished dressing herself, continuing to just stare at Crimson.

"What the hell is your problem?" Crimson finally inquired after both girls were entirely dressed.

"I would have been fine with just one Ruby to deal with." Weiss set her usual icy stare on Crimson, as if trying to look inside of the girl.

"In case you haven't noticed princess, I'm not Ruby. I'm a different part of her. If you don't like it, then you can just leave." Crimson responded without so much as glancing back at Weiss.

"Well maybe I'd rather have you leave. Wait, what happened to you wanting to leave and start your own life?" Weiss questioned, genuinely concerned. Crimson blinked a couple times. She had completely forgotten that she was suppose to be their prisoner. Before she could bolt, Weiss effortlessly put up a glyph in the shape of a snowflake covering the door. It locked it tight to make sure Crimson stayed inside.

"I hate you." Crimson spat at Weiss.

"I'm telling Ruby when she wakes up." Weiss finally and defiantly crossed her arms, turning her head in the direction of the little red reaper's bed. Crimson just giggled and shook her head.

"OK, Snow Princess. Whatever you say..." With a final remark, she retreated to the bathroom for lack of anywhere better to remove herself to. Weiss waited a few more moments before looking up at Ruby's bed more carefully. She noticed the sheets wiggling slightly, not normal for someone who was asleep. She pulled herself closer and inspected the bed where Ruby was hiding. With a single swift motion, Weiss pulled the bed sheets off of Ruby's head and exposed her to the light.

"How long...have you been awake?" Weiss asked once she saw Ruby's brightly lit face. Ruby quickly made it look like she had just woken up.

"Not...that long..." Ruby finished with a quick, cute yawn and sat up in her bed. Her eyes locked with Weiss', who was more calm than she was mere minutes ago.

"Well, let's get dressed. We need to figure out what we're going to do with this Crimson character of yours." The mention of Crimson's name startled Ruby for a moment. Weiss hadn't noticed and slipped away from Ruby's sight to allow the younger girl to get out of bed and change. Ruby picked up her oddball pile of red-and-black and started undressing, facing away from Weiss. The process was quick and Weiss made sure not to peek. Once Ruby was finished tying the last lace on her boots, Weiss grabbed her arm and pulled her into the corner.

"I had a nightmare last night that really shook me. I was scared that it was real. Crimson was taking advantage of you in some weird...adult situation. I didn't like it one bit," Weiss tightened her grip on Ruby's arm, "Because I kind of like you. And I would rather it be me instead of her." Ruby listened without moving once.

"Weiss, that sounds silly. Of course it's not real!" Ruby calmed the heiress in a soothing hushed voice. She completed the act with a sweet smile that warmed Weiss inside. The odd, little red girl that Weiss once despised was finding a very special place in her heart and settling in permanently. Girl love was forbidden back at the Schnee mansion, but here it didn't matter. Weiss wanted to admit that she really did love Ruby.

Before Weiss could say a word though, Ruby had jogged back towards her bed, blood-red cape fluttering slightly behind her. She picked up a tiny vase with a white-rose neatly planted inside. It was flawlessly perfect. Weiss followed Ruby to inspect the flower.

"You can have this. It's really pretty, but it goes with your hair, Weiss." Ruby handed the white-rose over with a cute blushing smile. Weiss lightly held the vase, viewing the flower over and over.

Neither girls noticed Yang or Blake waking up, nor had they seen Yang sneak up behind Weiss.

"Good morning, team!" Yang practically yelled, nearly causing Weiss to drop the flower. She quickly turned around and slapped Yang with her free hand.

"Don't do that, you fiery idiot!" Weiss snapped in a rage. She had completely forgotten about Ruby to deal with Yang's immaturity.

"Sorry, ice queen. At least I had fun." Yang mumbled before taking Blake away to their side of the room. Classes started in twenty minutes. Weiss suddenly remembered upon looking at the clock placed neatly on the wall.

"Ruby, thank you so much for this lovely gift, but class starts soon. What are gonna do with 'Her'?" Weiss was concerned someone would find Crimson hiding in their room and call them out for harboring her. It wasn't a big concern, but what troubled her the most was if Crimson decided to up and leave. That would be a huge problem for them all as a team.

"I don't know yet. I need time to think." Ruby responded, somewhat deep in thought about a plateful of hot cookies and killing Grimm.

"We don't have time! Ruby!" Weiss was overthinking the issue, but it wasn't uncalled for. Crimson's existence proved to be a massive hindrance to the four of them. She couldn't stay.

"Um...take her to class instead of me! I'll stay behind and think of something. Nobody will notice a difference." Ruby rushed to get the words out. It was the best she could do until after classes ended. Yang and Blake both stared at Ruby wondering if she was serious.

At the same moment, Crimson poked her head out of the bathroom at the mention of her being included in Weiss and Ruby's conversation.

"What was that about me being taken to class? Because I will happily go along with it." Crimson smiled wickedly. Weiss rolled her eyes and walked quickly over to Crimson. The bathroom door opened up further and Weiss halted. She stared the girl up and down. Instead of wearing her usual darker clothes, she was wearing an extra set of the school uniform. No one knew how she had gotten one. Weiss roughly grabbed the other girl's wrist and wasn't letting go. This problem child had to kept in sight and within slapping-distance at all times.

Without much time to do anything else, the four girls besides Ruby left the room to get to their first class of the day. As soon as they disappeared around the door frame, Ruby's expression turned from cheerful to worried. She honestly had no clue what she was going to do. Instead of placing Crescent Rose back in her locker, she kept it in the room with her on this day. Considering Crimson could bolt whenever she could, Ruby felt safer keeping her prized possession close. There wasn't much she could do for the time being.

She flopped onto Weiss' bed and started to think. At first, it was just idle-minded thoughts about her teammates and friends. She worked around that and began to really lose herself in a state of thinking. She put all the pieces together up until now. But then something new came into the puzzle.

"Those guys in black that me and the others came across, we've never seen them before now. Maybe they have something to do with all this..." Ruby was thinking out loud now, taking her time to remember every little detail. She knew that she wouldn't come up with a solution on her own but she had to get somewhere with all this.

"Crimson hijacks my aura, then uses it to escape. She becomes some weird person that looks like me, but it's not really me. She just wants freedom, but we can't let her do that, because she'll abuse my name and face. She also stole most of my fighting ability for some reason. And a lot of other stuff. But without the memory she took from me, I won't be able to become a huntress. So we need to put her back inside of me. That sounds awkward and difficult. I'm going to have to talk to Ozpin about this." Ruby came to a final conclusion and decided to seek out her headmaster for answers.

She wrote up a short note and placed it on Weiss' bed telling her team where she was heading in case they returned before she did. Ruby was making a decision for herself, and she was choosing to let go of everything she knew to get her old self back.


	6. Seeking Help

6\. Seeking Help

It was as if she could see in two places at once. Not physically, of course, but it felt odd. Ruby closed her eyes and very vaguely could make out in her mind what Crimson could see. A classroom, then Weiss, then a professor that Ruby could only notice the outline of. She reopened her eyes and remembered her objective. She needed to figure out what was going on.

She walked quickly down the hallways, not wanting to attract any attention. In her hurry, she had forgotten about putting on her school uniform and instead dressed in her normal attire. Her walking broke out into a light sprint and she controlled her speed at that. Her subconscious was working out how she was going to tell Ozpin.

Something had snapped inside Ruby's subconscious however. Perhaps it was over thinking, or the fact that she was trying to multitask, but her aura seemed to constrict her thoughts. She felt a pinprick pain throughout her body and with a tiny squeal of surprise and an uncalled for shower of rose petals, her semblance activated itself. She tripped over herself and was sent sprawling down the middle of the hallway. Her aura protected her from injury, but the whole event was frightening.

Ruby laid on her back with her eyes closed. While doing so, she heard a familiar chuckle that made her instantly look up.

"I don't suppose you could use some help?" Ozpin's gentle, laid back personality was a warm sight to Ruby. She nodded and he extended a hand, which was quickly met with the smaller feminine hand of Ruby. Once she was back on her feet, she placed a palm on the closest wall to her.

"Now then, would you care to explain what you are doing here instead of in class?" He wasn't being rude about the question. He sounded rather inviting, in fact. It caught Ruby off-guard.

"Well you see, it's actually a rather funny thing…" Ruby was distracted as Ozpin pulled up his tablet with a video playing on it. The scene that was unfolding was the previous fight between Ruby and her darker self in the city of Vale. In the upper corner of the device was a blurred picture of one of the ninja-like figures from last night.

"I can assume it has something to do with this video? I would like to tell you a story, Ruby."

* * *

A protruding building rose from the tops of the trees just outside of the city limits of Vale. The dark glossy surface concealed the building from prying eyes, and it took the shape of a massive cylinder that was rounded on the top. The clear crisp air the night before was interrupted by the obnoxious rotors from a helicopter. It was flying straight for the building and preparing to land on a hidden landing pad that was level with the treetops on the eastern side of the building. The helicopter contained a small group of dark cloaked figures, and their leader whom held a small red comms. device. He was being called back from his search of Beacon early, but he didn't know the reason. He was a tall fair-skinned man with short bleach blond hair. His name was Captain Erich, the only ninja to remove his facemask for the trip. One of the figures spoke up, breaking the somewhat silent journey between them.

"Erich, what is it that the General has called us back for?" The ninja was speaking directly to his captain in a way that suggested an air of casual relationship rather than a militant style ruling over his men.

"I'm not certain, though it can't be for a good reason." Erich shouted over the loud background noise to be heard. Within a few more minutes, the helicopter landed on the pad and came to a complete stop. The men singled out, leaving their captain for last. Erich touched the ground with heavy boots and accounted for each of his soldiers. He nodded to the pilot to thank him for taking them back before marching into the dark complex he had become so accustomed to being in. Though every time he entered, he couldn't help but feel a chill as if someone was watching.

He had memorized the interior, every dark narrowed hallway and every room, both empty or in use. His fist clenched tightly while he raised the red device in his other hand up to his face. He typed a few short words into a tiny keyboard. Seconds passed and a notification appeared on the device.

"General Blutrot." Erich whispered, taking large strides towards the General's quarters at the end of the corridor. The dim lights of the pristine hall provided just enough for Erich to see his way. A huge door at the end painted blood red, befitting a man of the general's stature. He reached the door and pushed it open, entering a room he had been in several times before.

The room itself was was a huge mess, with machines and pieces of machines scattered about. Desks and tables were pushed aside and filled with various things. There were two men already in the room already. They were discussing a plan between themselves.

"General. You wished to see me." Erich spoke up as soon as he was in the room. The first man turned to face the captain. He was a much older man and it was obvious. He had wild white hair and wore a somewhat tattered dark red vest, a lighter red undershirt, and on top of it all a worn white lab coat. The other man was around Erich's age and had similar features, except for darker hair and glasses. He wore a lab coat as well.

"Captain, this is Professor Silber. I don't believe you two have met. He will be working directly under your command from this point on and will be continuing developing the Crimson Projekct. If you have any questions, I've already filled him in on everything that we have done." The general kept his announcement short. Before any of the men could move, the door to the room opened once more. All three of them turned around to see the two new players.

"These two have also taken an interest in our work. They want to see it through to the end, so you will listen to them." Blutrot gave the instructions to Erich and Silber. The two new characters who entered the room announced themselves as Cinder Fall and Roman Torchwick.

"Oh, this will be fun." Torchwick smiled ominously.

* * *

The morning sun rose quicker than expected. Blutrot fiddled with a sinister machine while Silber assisted where needed. Torchwick and Cinder were off amassing their armies. Erich was gathering a small unit and prepared to initiate the first part of his plan. They all kept in touch with other while doing their own parts. Just before Captain Erich was to leave for Beacon again, he checked in personally to Blutrot.

"General, is there anything you need before I go on my mission?" He spoke lightly. Blutrot motioned for Erich to come forward, which he obeyed.

"Lay down on this platform. I want to perform an operation into the human mind to make sure my measures are correct." Silber directed, holding a tablet with several charts and statistics. He seemed to be occupied with changing things about. Erich didn't question the orders and laid down. As Blutrot strapped Erich down and moved a large machine over top of the platform, Silber remembered one last thing.

"Oh, and if we accidentally kill you, don't worry, it will be for the future of our project." He calmly pressed a few buttons on the overhead machine as Erich began to panic below. Silber turned his attention towards a televised synopsis of what was happening underneath the machine. The machine looked directly into Erich's conscious. It was brief, but Silber noticed a couple activities that allowed him to know everything was perfectly adjusted. He shut the machine off and pulled it away to reveal the captain, who was breathing heavily and still panicking.

"What the hell was that about, accidentally killing me?" Erich blurted out, standing upright immediately. It made Silber smile.

"Nothing, Captain. You're fine, aren't you? You have a mission to get to. Hurry along now." Silber shooed Erich away, looking over his diagnostics. Erich stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

"He may appear to have a temper, but it's only appearance." Blutrot responded, returning to work on the machine.

"Things are working on my end. But as far as the project is concerned, only time shall tell." Silber reported gravely.

* * *

Crimson tugged at the edges of the uniform. Class was nearly over, but the fabric wanted to constrict her. She was also growing increasingly annoyed at the amount of "Hey Ruby, where's your cape?" questions people loved to ask. Weiss backed up the doppelganger with simple replies.

"It got a stain on it so she's having it washed." Weiss answered. If the person asking persisted, Weiss started to get bossy with them. That usually made them leave.

Crimson leaned over on her desk, watching the clock carefully. Weiss poked Crimson's side a few times.

"What do you want?" Crimson whispered a tad aggressively.

"Stop slounging. Sit upright. And quit staring at the clock, it won't make time go faster." Weiss whispered back. Crimson rolled her eyes and reluctantly did as she was told. She made a decision right there that she hated class, and uniforms, and school in general. She crossed her legs and tapped her pencil softly, but impatiently. Her eyes were about to flutter shut until a voice disturbed her.

"Miss Rose! Why don't you come up to the front of the class and show the class how to properly use a firearm?" The teacher insisted.

"Because I don't want to." Crimson answered immediately, inciting a small wave of giggles around the classroom.

"Don't get smart with me, and come do as instructed." The professor strode over to stand in front of Crimson. The girl was resistant at first but eventually rose to her feet and slowly dragged herself to the front of the room. She was given a silver rifle with engravings all over it.

"Show us how to load this rifle, aim it, and handle it so that maximum safety is attained from the wielder." The professor commanded, standing back to watch. Crimson paused for a few seconds to look over the weapon. It wasn't very efficiently made, and lacked any modifications that would benefit the user in a fight. Nevertheless, weapons and fighting were Crimson's specialty. She set to work turning off the safety and elegantly loading a magazine into the rifle. She completely forgot about the class and instructions she was given. In her own world, she was imagining being surrounded by an unknown enemy. The imaginations hastened her demonstration and she began to aim the rifle.

"Excellently done. Remember students, the-" Just as the professor was about to interfere and take the weapon back, Crimson fired a shot at the wall, lodging the bullet neatly into the surface. This made the entire class jump in surprise. The professor snatched the rifle from Crimson's hands before she could fire a second shot.

"That will be enough! Class dismissed." The teacher raised his voice, highly annoyed at Crimson's uncalled-for actions. Weiss was the first to reach Crimson's side, grabbing her hand tightly and pulling her out of the class. Once they were outside of the room, Weiss pushed Crimson up against the wall.

"I don't know what that was, but if it happens again, I'll...I'll…" Weiss tried her best to sound threatening, but couldn't quite find the words.

"You'll what, lecture me to death?" Crimson retaliated.

"Well...maybe! Ugh, you're a hazard to my health." Weiss shot back, turning around and storming away. She was expecting Crimson to follow her. Instead, the other girl had different plans.

"Screw class, I need entertainment." Crimson mumbled, waiting for Weiss to disappear from sight. Crimson took her opportunity and walked off in the opposite direction. She didn't know exactly what she wanted to do just yet, but whatever it was, it was going to be something exciting.


End file.
